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View submission: How is heteronormativity not "political"?
I see it more as power dynamics and privilege.
Comment by The_Ethics_Officer at 20/09/2024 at 16:58 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Well yes, this discursive construction is inseparable from power (as understood by Foucault). The privilege is that heteronormative people can go about their lives without issue because their identity is never questioned (due to it being naturalized as the "correct" way to exist). The only reason this power and privilege exists is because it is discursively constructed, and this constructedness is hidden.
Butler, in *Gender Trouble*:
"For Foucalt, the body is not ‘sexed’ in any significant sense prior to its determination within a discourse through which it becomes invested with an ‘idea’ of natural or essential sex. The body gains meaning within discourse only in the context of power relations. Sexuality is an historically specific organization of power, discourse, bodies, and affectivity. As such, sexuality is understood by Foucault to produce ‘sex’ as an artificial concept which effectively extends and disguises the power relations responsible for its genesis."